The nation's single-family housing market is springing back to life, and the luxury market is budding right along with it.

Luxury homes have received a healthy boost from historically low mortgage rates, increased buyer confidence and burgeoning interest from foreign investors looking to capitalize on favorable exchange rates.

One bellwether of the recovery: Toll Brothers, the largest luxury home builder in the United States, reported that fourth-quarter revenues (ended Oct. 31, 2012) were up 48%, and new orders were the highest level seen since 2006.

Scranton, Pa.-based AZEK Building Products signed a distribution deal with OrePac Building Products, a building materials wholesaler serving the West and Pacific Northwest.   

Under the agreement, OrePac’s Denver, Colo., and Salt Lake City, Utah, branches will offer the full line of premium, exterior AZEK products.  OrePac’s Denver branch covers Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, Northern New Mexico and the Scottsbluff area of Nebraska, while the Salt Lake City branch covers Utah, Southwestern Wyoming, Eastern Nevada and Southeastern Idaho.

A group of five Ace Hardware employees, wearing high heels and carrying purses, raced down a street in Grand Junction, Colo., on Sept. 20 to raise money for victims of domestic violence. The all-male group from Ace Hardware on the Redlands came in third place and won the “Golden Heel” award for raising the most money -- $3,800 – during the annual “Men in Heels” fundraiser. Proceeds benefited Latimer House, a local shelter for victims of domestic violence.

In one of the more colorfully named fundraising traditions in all of hardware, a cook out in Colorado raised money for kids. 

The 4th annual Grill Your Ace Off outdoor cooking competition was held at Cherry Creek Ace Hardware in Denver on June 9. Fifteen teams competed for the grand prize, a Big Green Egg ceramic charcoal cooker and bragging rights for the next year.

Cherry Creek Ace Hardware is owned by Andy Carlson of Denver.

For the second year in a row, Home Channel News bestowed “All-Star Hardware Store” status on one store in every state. Here are the picks for Arkansas, California and Colorado. 

Aurora, Colo.-based Bona US, the hardwood-floor-care company, launched Bona Hardwood Floor Spot Cleaner designed to handle tough messes made by pets.

“Leaving pet soils on floors for an extended period of time may damage the finish of hardwood floors,” said Chad Nordhagen, director of marketing for Bona US. “Our innovative research team developed Bona Hardwood Floor Sot Cleaner to address this issue.”

The North American Wholesale Lumber Association has announced its speaker and education schedule for its 2012 Leadership Conference, and the event will be headlined by Billy Beane and Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. The Conference will be April 29-May 1 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado) commended Denver Lumber for stocking and selling beetle-killed lumber for construction -- and called on home builders and other lumber distributors to do the same. 

"Denver Lumber is filling a much-needed niche in Colorado by supplying beetle-killed wood to home builders,” Udall said in a statement. “I applaud their leadership in putting beetle kill to use and supporting rural economies that depend on our forests." 

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based PulteGroup has completed the sale of land approved for about 1,500 residences in Broomfield, Colo., to Wheelock Street Capital, a private real estate investment firm.

The transaction is for the remaining developed lots and undeveloped land in Anthem, Colo., a 1,700-acre master planned community in the northwest Denver metro area. The master plan includes Anthem Ranch and Anthem Highlands communities.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

While in Denver for its annual retailer convention, Ace Hardware surprised Ayla Charness, the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Colorado Champion, with a complete bedroom makeover. 

Applegate Insulation, a Webberville, Mich.-based company, has recently gained licensure to market both Applegate loose-fill and Applegate stabilized cellulose in California. The cellulose insulation supplier was actively marketed on the West Coast in the 1980s and ’90s. A recent acquisition in Colorado brought the company back into the California market, making the product available nationwide.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI) reported a drop to 41.7 in the third quarter from 43.9 in the second quarter, after posting a four-year high of 46.5 in the first quarter. An RMI below 50 indicates that more remodelers report that market activity is declining than report that it is increasing.